On Tuesday night, the Dodgers announced LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu might opt for season ending shoulder surgery.
Ryu has not pitched this season due to shoulder soreness. They’ve already lost Brandon McCarthy to Tommy John Surgery this season.
Dodgers president Andrew Friedman told reporters on Tuesday he could be interested in acquiring some starting pitching help, now that his team’s starting rotation has become even more fragmented.
“From where we sit right now, if we can add an arm, that would certainly be helpful,” Friedman said.
The Dodgers do have extra infielders. Currently, Justin Turner, Alex Guerrero and Juan Uribe are all splitting time at third base, and while they have combined to be very productive, it’s not ideal to spend 12 percent of the active roster on one position, particularly with the team needing more starting pitching.
In addition, now that they’ve made the Hector Olivera signing official, they will soon be adding another infielder into the mix. And, top prospect Corey Seager is getting closer to the big leagues as well.
That could mean the Dodgers might eventually trade from their infield surplus to acquire starting pitching. Friedman said having the infield surplus puts him in a strong position to make a deal to fill that need.
“Having as many good players as possible not only helps you in constructing your own roster, but allows you the opportunity to have more good players to talk about with other teams,” Friedman explained.
The Mets have an obvious surplus in starting pitching, with more in Steven Matz arriving very soon to the big leagues. Sandy Alderson told reporters at Citi Field on Tuesday he is not yet ready to acquire help on offense, as he prefers to wait and see how the offense responds when Travis d’Arnaud and David Wright are eventually restored to the lineup.
Having said that, there could be a lot of baseball played between now and whenever that happens.
This seems like a pretty good match on paper. The Mets really need to bolster the middle infield defense, they need a bat, and the Dodgers need pitching, which the Mets have extras of.
The most appealing of Friedman’s surplus is obviously Guerrero. He’s not particularly young, but he played for a long time in Cuba before defecting and joining the Dodgers as a free agent in 2013. He has shown good power so far this season although he hasn’t walked very much.
His glove seems to be that of a utility infielder: he can play second, shortstop or third, although has yet to play short in the big leagues. He did play a little bit there last season and has experience playing there in Cuba. He’s probably best suited at second base – he’s relatively raw at third and hasn’t played more than seven games at shortstop since 2010. He is owed $21.5 million through 2017 and can opt out of his deal if traded, but if he stays he will only be arbitration eligible when that contract expires and can be controlled through 2021. However, he will be about 32 when he becomes arbitration eligible, which makes the situation a little risky for any interested party.
That doesn’t mean at all Guerrero would ever become available. However, Friedman is clearly willing to listen on any of his extra infielders. Ultimately, Uribe is the logical guy for Friedman to dangle. He’s older and in the last year of his contract, and is more likely to see his skills diminish sooner than Guerrero. And, he is not a fit for the Mets.
Alternatively, perhaps Friedman would elect to shop Jimmy Rollins with Seager closing in on his big league debut. Rollins has said the Mets were among his favorites as a landing spot this winter, so he might not be terribly upset if he were moved here. But he’s off to a bad start with at the plate and he has not played well at shortstop, so he might not provide the Mets what they’re looking for in an upgrade right now.
The Dodgers might start out aiming higher in their quest to add starting pitching than what the Mets might be willing to offer. Cole Hamels remains available, albeit at a very high price, according to reports. If that price remains out of touch, perhaps the Dodgers would search the next tier of available pitching, which would make the Mets a theoretical fit for them.
Just Mets 